Earlham College is a small, selective, national liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. Chris R. Smith (Associate Professor of Biology) is the PI of the ant lab (really, we are becoming more general, so this should be insect lab). Read more about what we do below or check out our lab members and some current research projects.
We primarily work on the ecology and evolution of ants. Many of the projects are centered around the phenomenon of queen-worker (female) caste determination. We study caste determination from multiple levels, including nutrition, gene regulation, and genome evolution. Generally, though, WE LOVE ANTS!